Making a Call in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams has replaced Skype for Business. That means organizations can still perform conference calls but Microsoft has added the power of their OneDrive cloud solutions to the conference technology. These instructions are for students, employees, and faculty who wish to call other people on the SCSU network.

Purpose: Make a call to a SCSU class peer or a fellow SCSU colleague.

Log in to your Microsoft Account. Click on the Teams icon from the list of Apps.
To make a call, click on the Calls button from the side navigator. While there are many ways to make a call, these instructions will make a call from the SCSU email directory. Click on Make a Call, at the bottom of the screen.
An interface pops up, with suggested names from your contact history. Activate the Type a Name field with a click of your mouse. This field operates just like the address field of an email. Type the last name of the SCSU person you wish to call. A list of matches will automatically populate. Select the name you wish to call. MULTIPLE CALLERS: After adding the first name, and before clicking Make the Call, you can add additional names to the call.
For audio-only calls, click on the phone icon. For audio/video calls, click on the video icon.
The call will begin as soon as the recipient answers the call. An audio-only call will only display your initials icon, without any picture. An audio/video call will display the video feed as shown in this picture.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog, my LinkedIn profile, or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University

Using Blackboard to Email Students or Groups

Blackboard provides a way for students to contact each other, even if they haven't exchanged emails. In my own classes, I create a "Communication Hub" where I place all the announcements and communication tools. On my blackboard site, the tool is called "Blackboard Email." This tool lets students email eachother or email the group to which they have been assigned.

Purpose: These instructions will help students using blackboard to send email messages to select students or to groups.

Classes will differ according to the customization preferences of the instructor. Click the email link. In my classes, click Blackboard Email.
A screen will open with several options. Choose All Student Users if you wish to send an email to the entire class. Choose All Instructor Users if you want to send an email to the professor and any instructor assistants. Choose Select Users to pick one or more fellow classmates you wish to email. Choose Select Groups if you are assigned to a group and you want to send an email to your group members or the members of another group. For these instructions, choose Select Users.
The left box is a list of all the students in your class. The right box is a list of the student(s) you wish to email. When the page first loads, the right box will be empty. Select the name you want to email and click the arrow icon to move the name from the left box to the right box. Continue to select names if there are more than one. NOTE: the list of names are whited out to protect the privacy of students. Selected names are blacked out.
Blackboard will not send messages if they do not have a Subject. Of course, you will want to write a message in the Message field.
Click the Submit button when you are ready to send your email.
ALTERNATIVE Instead of choosing Select Users, you can check Select Groups. The same box interface will appear with the list of groups. Select the group you wish to email in the same manner as described above.

All instructions and documentation written by:

Dr. Jason Lawrence, M.S., Ph.D.

Theory and Practice of Professional Communication

Artificial Intelligence writers, Internal Documentation, and Emergent Texts
Visit my Official Blog, my LinkedIn profile, or my Web Page.

Find a School: Southern Connecticut State University